The meagre selections in my iTunes library have left me with only a fraction of the albums I have on my home computer.
Shameful revelation: How much Dave Matthews Band can you listen to during the work day? Unless I download music on company time – not cool – I’m left with only the ambient noise of the photocopier and stamp machine as a work-day soundtrack.
The solution: I’ve long been a fan of NPR, or National Public Radio (I’ve also been accused of being “little old lady-ish,” but that’s another blog post.) Like CBC Radio, NPR has its share of cloying hosts, but I go for gold and download podcasts for Fresh Air, for its great interviews, and All Songs Considered, for its wide array of new music. Fresh Air is something I listen to while I’m jogging, and the commentary in All Songs Considered was a distracting while I’m working on stories. Looking for something a bit more ambient, I started streaming concerts and songs on NPR’s handy little audio player, which you can find by clicking the “+ to playlist” option on a particular story or program. The player lets you customize your playlist song-by-song, story-by-story or with entire programs. The player remembers your playlist— even if you close your browser. I listen to everything from live gigs by Neko Case (solo, New Pornographers) to songs by the excellent film composer Gustavo Santaolalla (The Motorcycle Diaries; Babel). Santaolalla is great for writing. Pretty, but not saccharine and not obtrusive.
Also: It would be remiss not to give kudos to CBC. Anyone with a penchant for big C Canadian music will like the diverse, cutting-edge offerings at CBC Radio 3.
Thanks for dropping the link to All Songs Considered. A longing heart was had when I found out my favorite on-line source for live music was being canceled due to lack of funding. Fabchannel.com was taken down a few weeks ago after a 9 year run of delivering full-length concerts from some of indies best artists. Most shows were filmed at the Paradiso in Amsterdam and was a great tool for discovering new artists.
Although All Songs Considered only offers the audio, the list of artists is substantial. I downloaded 14 concerts upon my first visit to the sight. The excitement actually made me lose sleep. At least I had good music to listen to!